Africa Rally Presentation @ OSU

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for those of you who came out to the COW Presentation today at Oregon State University. This presentation was exactly the same as the one presented in April except filtered towards a student audience. This presentation took place 7:30PM in WNGR 151 (Weniger Hall).

If you are interested in purchasing a DVD, please send an e-mail to Tate Koenig or Keegan Warrington.

Thanks again for supporting this cause!

Tim Chen
COW Webmaster

Africa Rally Presentation

After successfully completing the Africa Rally, COW will be conducting a presentation to explain how donations were distributed, to share the experiences from the Africa Rally, and the future for Citizen Of the World.

This event will take place at the Willamette Christian Church in West Linn, OR at 7:00PM Thursday, April 22nd.

Feel free to invite guests. Cookies and drinks will be provided!

For more information, please contact Keegan at keegan@beacow.com

Thanks,
Tim Chen

====================================================

When: 7:00 pm Thursday April 22nd

Where: Willamette Christian Church
3153 S Brandywine Drive
West Linn, OR 97068
503.656.2328

Homeward Bound!

It hasn't quite sank in yet that we are coming home! Africa is about as different from home as anywhere could be but after 2 months even it starts to feel almost normal. Were about 8 hours away from catching our 30 hour flight home and it cant come soon enough! It has been over a month since we have been somewhere under 70 degrees (including at night) and 2 months and 14 days since I have had ranch dressing... This trip has really helped us to see how great we have it in the US and we cant wait to get back to it! We get home Monday night and will spend Tuesday Uploading pics and writing a blog to give a somewhat overview of the trip! Once again we can not thank you all enough! The Africa Rally would not of been possible without all the help and hard work of all our Friends, Family and Sponsors!

Tate

Wrapping up the Africa Rally

After some crazy happenings in Nigeria, the guys made it across the Cameroon border and are now in Kribi. Keegan and Tate finished the rally last week, and are now relaxing in style. It was an amazing journey full of ups and downs, crazy adventures and new people. Along the way, the guys met some amazing people. Thanks to everyone who helped, and if you were wondering, the boys will be back in Corvallis on February 25th!

The COW car has made it too, minus some parts and the addition of some dings and miles. Keegan and Tate have donated the car to the organization that puts on the Africa Rally. The Suzuki Samurai will soon be auctioned off to the highest bidder and all the money will be donated to the charities. Also, all the tools that the guys used are being sold so they can have money to live, most of which are being sold for more than they are worth in the states.

Keegan and Tate also decided to donate some of their tool-earnings to other people. While in Kribi they went to an orphanage, run by white people who have lived there for forty years, and volunteered letting the orphanage take whatever they needed.

For fun, the COW team visited a wildlife center for rehabilitating animals. They also enjoyed seeing a water festival that took place on the beach. After walking on the private beach of their hotel, they came around a rocky corner and saw the festival on the beach in front of a small village. Of course, Tate and Keegan didn’t resist to join in the celebration.

Also, Tate and Keegan met two guys who are starting a restaurant and decided to help them start it. They have helped the entrepreneurs get menus and other things.

There were hundreds of participants in the Africa Rally this year. Many teams drove straight through as fast as they could; some teams quit or simply could not finish the journey. Tate, Keegan and the COW car took a much different route than planned, experienced many different cultures, conquered all of the difficulties during the journey and were the last ones to finish. While half of the teams didn’t make it to Kribi, our team comprised of two very young drivers and a young COW staff made it.

The Africa Rally was Citizen of the World’s first major philanthropy event. It highlights all the hard work of COW members and Tate & Keegan. Right now, Tate and Keegan are eating shrimp dumped on the dark lava-flow sand of the Cameroon beaches by local fisherman. On behalf of them and everyone involved in COW, we would like to thank EVERYONE who donated their time, money and efforts. As a not-for-profit organization, we could not have done it without ALL of your help.

Thanks again to everyone,
Connor Deeks
PR director COW

Nigeria!

Nigeria Nigeria Nigeria... Before entering Nigeria we heard nothing but bad things and horrible stories, most people we met told us not to go and if we did go through as fast as possible. However when I meet fellow travelers so far anyways I have a good, or at least decent story of Nigeria to tell. After spending an entire day to travel the 100 Km from Niki to New Bussa on the dried up river bed the good Ol Sami needed more than a few repairs. After the drive it had: A broken Motor Mount, A blown Transmission Seal, 3 broken shocks (2 completely missing), our carburetor wont rev right, a Cracked rear axle housing and our exhaust had broken in half in a different spot! After going to about 3 Nigerian Napa's (a guys garage who has more than the average broken down cars) we found a seal that wasn’t the right one and not even the right size, but it slowed down the leak so we only had to fill the trany up with oil about every 3 hours. We used some JB weld on the rear axle and were back on the road heading east! Our goal was to make it to the town of Abuja by dark but having to stop and fill up with oil every three hours made it take a bit longer than expected. Along this drive we saw firsthand the reason Nigeria has such a bad name... We went through towns were the smog and pollution were so bad that you couldn’t see more than three cars in front of you, you couldn’t take a deep breath and our eyes were actually burning. The people here were also unlike any others we have encountered. We had the driver of the car in front of us hit a guy on a motorcycle. Instead of apologizing or giving him his insurance info (like they have insurance) He got out and started a legitimately minute long all out Fight with the driver of the motorcycle! Eventually they were pulled apart and the entertainment was over... for about thirty seconds. People begging for food or money every time we stop our car have become an every stop occurrence however this was the first time the beggars had ever turned violent. After telling them we had no food left etc they literally started hitting our car as hard as they could! As if it hadn’t taken enough damage already! By this point it was getting dark and we were not looking forward to Abuja which was still at least 45 min away. It was main roads the rest of the way to Abuja and even two lanes going each direction! We hadn’t seen this big of roads in over a month! We finally arrived in Abuja and pulled into the Sheridan Hotel (you can camp in their parking lot if you eat at the restaurant) which is where we met Marcos. Marcos is a Swiss guy who was leaving the restaurant as we pulled in. He came over to check out what we were doing and what not and after talking for a while he mentioned that he had a few extra rooms and we were welcome to come stay if we would like and save some money. He was the first other white person we had seen in over a week and seemed like a nice guy so we quickly agreed. When he pulled up for us to follow him in his brand new Land Cruiser our hopes of a hot shower grew! We followed him for about ten minutes before arriving at his place, The Security Guard opened the gate and we pulled in. We were greeted at the door by his Chef who quickly asked if Steak sounded good for dinner, as if we wouldn’t have loved it anyway the fact that we had been eating nothing but plain rice and beans for the past two days had to have helped. As he showed us around his house our dreams came true when we found not only a Hot Shower but AC in our room as well! He then added that he also had a full Shop and if we wanted to stay the next day and get our Cameroon Visa's we were welcome to use it to fix up the car!
After a good night’s rest we got up this morning, dropped off our passports at the Cameroon Embassy and headed to his shop. I was able to fix the motor mount, exhaust, carburetor and finish up the rear axle! Tomorrow morning we will pick up our Visa's and head Towards Cameroon and if all goes well (stopping every 3 hours to fill up on oil) we should make it to Cameroon by Thursday evening!

Tate & Keegan making progress; Togo to Benin to Nigeria!

Hello followers, sponsors and members of the COW herd,

Keegan and Tate have been on the move and covering a lot of miles over the past few days. Starting in Turtle Beach, they went east to Kata and ended the night staying in a large hotel. The interesting thing about this hotel was that Keegan and Tate were the ONLY people staying there. Imagine, a large resort in Hawaii or Mexico completely vacant! From there, they drove to Lomo, then north to Sojode following the roads that were much more suitable fro travel. During this northern route, however, they saw around 10 flipped semi-trucks. The guys got through without much trouble.

After reaching Nadoba, Togo they crossed the border into Benin on dirt roads. While traveling along back-roads they came across a tribal society that they learned had not been “touched” by white people until the 1970s. Keegan described their housing as miniature castles; I can’t wait to see the pictures! After this, they ended their day for such much needed rest at a crappy hostel in Natitingog, Benin.

For Nigeria, a little improvisation was needed with their international licenses. Keegan and Tate’s licenses were valid for Niger luckily, so they used a photocopy machine to simply add an ‘i’ and an ‘a’ so it would read Nigeria. All turned out well as they crossed the border into Nigeria a day later. The boys said their goodbyes to the tropical (but dusty) Benin with a little nervousness as Nigeria is the most dangerous country they have to travel through

When I asked the guys via satellite phone how fast they were traveling they told me about 300 miles a day if the roads are good. Funny, seems that the roads are never quite “good” enough to hit that mark.

A very funny trick that Tate and Keegan learned about toll booths and police barriers is that most are unofficial and are there to simply bribe people who have enough money to own or drive a car. After the hundreds of bribery attempts, the guys have found that if you just speed up and drive through them, the police cannot chase after them because they do not have any more transportation than anyone else!

Anyway, the boys entered Nigeria through the city of Nijki and exchanged their old currency for Nigerian’s currency in a back room with large stacks of money; don’t worry parents, the exchange was official. After about 10 miles of wonderful roads, everything changed. The road became a dried lakebed and all speed was lost. The guys had to drive 10 miles/hour for an entire day over the most treacherous roads they have encountered. During this disastrous drive, the COW car sustained multiple injuries. We can now say the guys only have one working shock (2 more were taken out of play) and the transmission is now leaking. The guys may need to take a few days to get the car in working order.

While they took a short break to get the car at least in functional order, a large group surrounded Tate and Keegan and the car. Keegan counted 79 at one point and noted that many more came. Before getting too nervous, Keegan did the best thing he could think of: pull out his camera. Once he did this, everyone started to go crazy with excitement. In a place where civil war plagues many innocent people, Keegan and Tate bring fun and excitement. With a little coaching, our COW travelers recorded 100s of Nigerians chanting “U-S-A” and then, as the guys are Oregon State Beavers, led the “O-S-U fight, fight, fight” chant. Personally, I cannot wait until I can see that video.

Right now, Tate and Keegan are in New Bassu, Nigeria with a little over 900 miles to go of traveling. While they pass village after village, city after city, they try and bring excitement to the people that are around them. They are driving long days and living off little food for a good cause. Keegan told me over our last phone call that one of the biggest things he misses about home is the food. We can’t wait to see him and Tate soon.

From everyone involved in COW, we would like to thank our sponsors for their commitment to our cause; each and every dollar and/or car part has gone to unimaginable good use.

Thank you once again,
Connor Deeks
PR director COW

Ghana is Great!

We have been in the country of Ghana for about a week and it is unlike any other country we have been to so far! Like most places we have been, the people here are very friendly, since most of them speak at least some English we are actually able to communicate with them other than just hand gestures. The biggest change other than the language is the Landscape and climate! We have finally left the dry dusty countries of Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso and are now in the Hot Tropics of Ghana. The usual landscape of dusty plains with small brush has been replaced with tropical jungles of Palm Tree's and Pineapple. We started out staying in the capital city of Accra and were lucky enough to be here as Ghana beat Nigeria in the Semi Finals of the Africa Cup of Nations. That was an experience to say the least. You didn't even need to be watching the game to know exactly what was going on! You could hear the entire city roar or groan with each play made during the entire game! Ghana ended up winning 1-0 and when the final whistle blew the town exploded! Literally people running, screaming and dancing through the streets! Speeding cars and trucks with people hanging on all sides, on top and inside all hoopin and hollering with cheers of victory! This place was literally on the verge of out of control! The next day we dropped our Passports off at the Benin embassy to get our Visa's and with it being the weekend had a few days until they would be ready. We took the opportunity to drive west along the coast and see the famous Slave Castles and beautiful beaches. We saw the beautiful Slave castles like Fort Amsterdam and Cape Coast Castle which were pretty cool. We ended up staying on the beach in Dixcove. This turned out to be a fantastic beach with a small village about a half mile down the beach. There is a small eco friendly resort called Green Turtle which had more than reasonably priced meals, even though we mostly dined on Fresh Coconuts and Pineapple which the local kids delivered. Dixcove is also where we had to part with our good friend and Photographer Luke. Luke found an opportunity there that he just couldn't pass up. He found a good job working for the guy who owns the Local slave castle. He is living on the beach in Paradise while he saves up money to eventually fly home. Keegan and I both admitted our jealousy as we said our goodbyes. We made the drive back to Accra and stopped to camp along the way at Big Millies Back yard which is a camp ground right near the beach. Up with first light again we made our way to the Benin Embassy where we picked up our Passports and started looking for the Nigerian Embassy. Once we found it I dropped Keegan off to start filling out our forms while I went to the bank to get out some money. After getting a set of wrong directions I finally found a bank but when I saw it I was already going passed it, I pulled a quick U-turn and pulled in. As I was using the ATM I was disturbed by 4 police officers with there night sticks out. I was told that it was illegal to do a U-turn in the specific spot I had just done one ( which is BS because no one here follows the traffic laws even if it HAD been one) When I refused to pay a bribe , They told me I needed to come with them to the Police Station. One of them jumped in shotgun and started giving me directions as we drove through the bustling city streets. After about a 15 minute drive we arrived at the police station. On the drive I had realized all of our paperwork, from passports to car insurance, was with Keegan filling out paperwork. I stashed almost all of my cash in the glove box and went into the station. After about 30 minutes of arguing with the Police chief, refusing to pay bribes and showing them my wallet which now had only 10 cedi's in it they finally let me go. All in all the whole ordeal ended up just costing me a pack of fruit snacks for the officer who road with me and about an hour of time, but could of ended up alot worse! When I got back we dropped off our applications and go back to pick them up this afternoon at 2. We will then start driving east Through the rest of Ghana, Togo, Benin , Nigeria and the Cameroon!

If all goes smoothly we should be able to make it to Cameroon in about 10 days. Our plan is to drive north through Togo and cross through the center of Benin and Nigeria as the south and the north of Nigeria are both quite dangerous. Hope fully we will be able to cover at least 300 miles a day and avoid the police if at all possible.

Thanks again to all our sponsors the GPS and sat phone have been life savers.